The Most Important Things That Happened to Crypto Market

Before we say goodbye to 2018, it wouldn’t hurt to look back at the departing year in order to reflect on the most important events and sum it all up. History is a good teacher and by analyzing the events of the past we have a chance to avoid making those same mistakes in the future. We’ve prepared a short overview of the main things that shaped the crypto industry in 2018, and paved the way for new achievements.

Crypto ads bans

The beginning of the year left everyone involved in technology development slightly unsettled, as Facebook decided to ban cryptocurrency ads to protect its users from scams. However, later on, the social media giant overviewed its newest policy and decided to give crypto another chance. And just like that, in June, the ads were pardoned and got back on track. However, ICO projects are still out of favor.

Google followed suit and, after restricting cryptocurrency’s advertisement for a while, partially reversed the ban later in October with a little remark: only regulated exchanges in the US and Japan are allowed to promote their services.

Bitcoin futures

News about launching Bakkt — a digital asset platform — definitely rocked the crypto world. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has partnered with Microsoft and Starbucks and in August it was announced that the new platform will be offering a regulated Bitcoin futures exchange and is expected to launch officially by the end of January 2019.

Moreover, they say that soon enough, with the help of Bakkt, you will be able to pay for your Starbucks fix with bitcoin.

Stablecoins on the rise

Stablecoins became extremely popular this year. We’ve already told you a little about them using MakerDAO’s DAI as an example. Apart from DAI, some other stablecoins that were actively discussed in the media during the year are LBXPeg (GBP-backed ERC-621 token) — released by the London Block Exchange (LBX), Candy — Mongolia’s first stablecoin, Paxos Standard (PAX — USD-backed) — launched by the Paxos Trust Company, Gemini Dollar (GUSD — USD-backed ERC-20) — launched by Gemini Trust Company, and USD Coin (USDC — USD-backed ERC-20) — launched by Circle Internet Financial Ltd. Some skeptics keep questioning if the world really needs a cryptocurrency that is pegged to USD, but it doesn’t change the fact that there should be a safe, volatility-free haven.

Bitcoin’s tenth birthday

On October 31, along with Halloween, the crypto world celebrated the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s white paper. This might not be one of the shocking or groundbreaking news that crypto enthusiasts are already used to hearing (almost daily, to be honest) but rather a milestone for all cryptocurrency believers and an important reminder that anything’s possible.

Bitcoin Cash Fork

November 15th the BCH hardfork didn’t go exactly as it was planned originally. As a result of “hash wars” two different cryptocurrencies BCH (backed by ABC chain) and BSV (Bitcoin Satoshi Vision’s creation) emerged. The whole crypto drama went viral in the press and was followed by a social media confrontation between the leaders of two groups. Frankly speaking, it didn’t do any good for any participants. The situation with BCH, once again, showed that in order to succeed, we had better concentrate on the technology and not blind personal ambitions.

STO vs ICO

After many infamous incidents related to countless ICOs, their popularity has clearly been dented. Investors became more conscious and learned how to make weighted decisions. The world started accepting new regulation procedures country by country. In this atmosphere, STOs became a new, promising alternative for raising fiat capitals for crypto projects. As a result, Overstock’s tZero concluded one of the first STOs on a decentralized public network after raising $134M, and Binance partnered with the Malta Stock Exchange to launch a security tokens trading platform.

Bear market

It’s hard to deny that it has definitely been a pretty tough year for the cryptocurrency market, and a lot of investors ran out of steam. After the 2017 December rush, the prices of BTC and ETH suddenly stopped rising and started going down instead. During 2018, we saw the first bear market since 2014, with BTC/USD suffering a 70.42% loss and ETH/USD losing 79.04% of their values. The end of the year wasn’t well-disposed either. Unfortunately, red downfalling crypto charts inspired not only many memes and heartbreaking Reddit posts, but also too many panic selling activities.

Conclusion

The Cryptocurrency market, like any other market in its infancy, is still facing many difficulties and has to fight every step of the way. New regulations, uncertainty with the basic framework, and controversial media statements can easily manipulate the situation. It is essential to remember that a long-term oriented mindset and focusing on the development provide a supportive environment for future success and much-needed mass adoption.

Happy Holidays!

Cheers to the New Year! The Lumi Wallet team wishes you a Happy Holiday season. And if you are not into celebrating and can’t wait to discuss the perspectives of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in 2019, feel free to contact us on our Telegram public chat. Or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, we have a lot to share!

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